23 year-old Tom Coda is one of our most consistent and dedicated BJJ students, and his hard work paid off exponentially last Sunday at the 2019 IBJJF NY Spring Open tournament in New York, NY. He straight-up won his blue belt no-gi division, and he took silver in his gi division, coming up short in […]

. . . is because you can train on your own, without any special equipment! With just a minimal amount of striking knowledge, you can sharpen and grow that knowledge on your own via shadowboxing. Now some people may feel self-conscious about punching and kicking the air, without equipment or a partner. But really, if […]

This morning, I watched this rather interesting video from Youtube celebrity Chewjitsu. In recent history, he’s become something of a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu counselor and e-therapist. He’s definitely good at what he does, and I think that’s partially because he answers questions while at the same time pointing his listeners in the direction of more important […]

One day, while hanging out with some training partners, I found myself in a debate about what the most fun Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu belt-rank is. Even the no-gi men and women got in on this. Some purple belts said that they imagined the black belt to be the most fun. That’s ideally when you become the […]

The above question was put forth to me years ago by a young man who had just taken his first classes in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was being partially sarcastic – although new to things, he knew enough to perceive that learning the nuances of a martial art cannot be 100% accomplished through […]

Before Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu were my main fitness habits, I used to hit the traditional gym like most other people do. And today, I’ll still go to the gym, but only if I have a specific fitness goal or plan to compete. There are many reasons why I made this switch, but here […]

Slight caveat – I don’t consider age 39 to be “late in life.” But hey, by the standards of some hip, young, early-20s Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitors, I guess that even age 29 could be regarded thus! In any case, today I was happy to discover this short article about 39 year-old Rubens Charles Cobrinha, one […]

I always feel sad when I see people working out while simultaneously keeping track of time or the “outside world.” They check the wall-clock, check their phones, get pulled-into social media on their phones, and that adds to the high drop-out rate that traditional gyms often have. However, one incredible benefit of training martial arts […]

“Nah, I’ll wait a few months until I feel in better shape.” “Yeah. No. I don’t know. I’ll totally let you know how I feel later.” “I feel that I’ve got some things to figure out first.” ^ Those are just a few one-liners I’ve heard from people who inwardly want to raise their standards […]